Marianne Williamson has written New York Times best sellers, most recently Tears to Triumph about ‘the spiritual journey from suffering to enlightenment’.
Photograph: David Livingston/Getty Images

New Age author Marianne Williamson was in Iowa earlier this week meeting with Democratic activists to explore the possibility of a presidential campaign.

Tom Henderson, a prominent Democratic activist in the state, told the Guardian that Williamson said she was “just looking into it and not a candidate yet”.

Williamson is a prominent New Age author who has written New York Times best sellers, most recently Tears to Triumph about “the spiritual journey from suffering to enlightenment”.

One source said Williamson took meetings in the Des Moines area and also in Fairfield, Iowa, a rural town that is home to the Maharishi University of Management and has a thriving community of practitioners of transcendental meditation.

Williamson’s interest in a potential presidential bid is a sign of how broad the Democratic field in 2020 might be. Dozens of Democrats have been mooted as candidates and Williamson would have competition even for the “yoga vote”. Ohio congressman Tim Ryan has reportedly said that he is hoping to court that demographic if he mounts a bid. Ryan, a Rust Belt Democrat who mounted an unsuccessful challenge to Nancy Pelosi for minority leader, has long practiced and advocated for meditation.

A presidential bid by the author would mark the first celebrity campaign for the White House against Donald Trump. Although a host of A-listers ranging from Oprah Winfrey to Mark Cuban to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have been floated as a candidates, none of them have been reported to be taking the necessary steps to consider a presidential bid.

A presidential bid would not be Williamson’s first foray in politics. In 2014, she mounted an unsuccessful congressional bid in California’s 33rd congressional district. She finished fourth with 13% of the vote despite spending nearly $2m. At the time, celebrities like Alanis Morrisette as well as former congressman Dennis Kucinich endorsed her congressional bid.